Beauty & lifestyle

makeup remover

If you’ve been reading my bog for a while now, you would know that I am a big fan of using oil cleansers to remove makeup. They work like a charm and there is no scrubbing and tugging involved. I like to try new oil cleansers each time I finish the current one 😀 I I have tired many Shiseido products in the past and they have never disappointed me. This cleansing oil is no exception!

Shiseido Perfect Cleansing oil

It comes in a nice simple and elegant plastic pump bottle. The oil is very light and silky feeling on the skin. This isn’t the lightest cleansing oil I have tried (If I remember correctly the DHC Cleansing oil feels very light) but it glides very easily over the skin.

I like to take 2 pumps and massage it all over the face. If I am wearing eye makeup then I use an additional pump to clean off all that mascara, liner and eye shadow. It does the job really well and I never find traces of any makeup after using this to remove makeup. I always go in with a foaming cleanser as a second cleanse though.

The oil has a slight fragrance which has not irritated my skin so far..touch wood! If you are very sensitive to fragrances I would not recommend this one. The only other negative I have to mention about this cleanser is the price (35$)! The ingredients are nothing special..it is basically mineral oil and just like in the case of Shu Uemura you are basically paying for the brand name. Just for this reason, and my general obsession with trying out different cleansing oils and balms, I won’t be repurchasing.

One of the things I love about travelling is trying out new beauty products ( and of course food!) I can’t find back at home. Natio is an Australian natural beauty brand that I picked up in India. They have lots of skincare products ,color cosmetics and also candles. I found their products to be reasonably priced. I picked up the Argan and Almond facial cleaning balm and also a 10 minute brightening mask which I’ll talk about in detail soon.

Natio Argan and Almond facial cleansing balm

The balm comes in a no frills tube which makes it an ideal travel companion. I am a fan of using cleansing oils to remove makeup, but travelling with them can be a bit difficult. This guy sorted that problem! The only con was that every once in a while when it gets cold, the oils in the tube solidify to a thick paste that you need to use a bit of pressure to get out. This also sometimes results in too much of the stuff coming out of the tube at once.

The balm is easy to use, just like any cleansing oil you take some of the balm and work it gently onto your dry face. Once the oils break down all your makeup, wash with water to get all your makeup off. I found the balm to be good at removing all my makeup including heavy eye makeup. This does have a slight herbal smell, which does not bother me at all since it is quite mild.

Ingredient List

As you can see the ingredient list is quite nice! I love that Almond oil is number 2 on the ingredient list. The herbal smell is likely due to the combination of all the different flower oils listed.

After you wash off the cleansing balm with water, it leaves a coating/residue on the skin which I suspect is due to the beeswax and candelilla wax. This is not an issue for me since I always double cleanse when I wear makeup , so after the cleansing balm step, I go in with a foaming cleanser to make sure everything is cleaned off from my face. If you were looking to use this as your only cleanser this might be a deal breaker unless your skin is so dry it loves that waxy layer 🙂

Overall, I really like this cleansing balm and look forward to trying more of their products! I found some of Natio’s products on amazon so maybe I don’t have to travel too far to try something more from the brand!

Have you tried Natio products? What do you recommend I try from them next?

Hello folks! Happy Easter!! I am a huge fan of oil cleansers to remove makeup since I find it the easiest way to get the job done…no cotton pads, no wipes, no tugging and rubbing. I have been using the DHC cleansing oil reviewed HERE for a long time and decided to switch it up by picking up the oil cleanser from the Australian brand Coast to Coast.

Coast to Coast was available in Ulta till the end of last year (I picked this up in October)..I’m not sure if they carry them anymore since I cannot find it in the Ulta website anymore. It is sad if the brand has been pulled off the shelves because I found their brightening clay mask (review) awesome and it compelled me to try more stuff from the brand.

The Coast to Coast Ultra Soothing Cleansing Oil

Oil cleansers are applied to the dry skin and you massage and spread it around after which you wash your face with water. Upon contact with water, it mildly foams up and leaves your skin all clean. The DHC cleaning oil is very light in texture compared to the coast to coast one. This oil is a bit thicker and so I feel like I need more than 2 pumps to cover my full face.

In terms of performance it does a great job in removing all my makeup including mascara. I find it comparable to the DHC oil. I always follow up with a regular face cleanser after removing my makeup with an oil cleanser just to make sure everything is removed! My face does not feel stripped of moisture after I am done with my makeup removal which is great!

Ingredient List

The only issue I have with this oil is the smell. It is not too strong but I generally am not a fan of herbal like scents. As you can see in the ingredient list above, there is a mixture of oils in this product which explains the thicker texture of the oil and also the smell. The DHC one is primarily olive oil based and hence lighter in texture.

Overall, I like this product and might purchase it again if I can find it!

Have you tried anything from Coast to Coast? If not Ulta, where else is it available?

So, if you ask a beauty junkie what their favorite makeup remover is at the moment, chances are they will mention the Bioderma Micellar Cleansing Water or some of the popular drugstore versions that have come out recently. Micellar waters have become so popular due to their ease of use and efficiency. In case, you have ever wondered how this ‘magic’ water works, in this post I’ll try to explain!

If you take a look at the ingredient list of any of the Micellar waters in the market the very first ingredient is… surprise! Water! This is usually followed by a surfactant /detergent and skin conditioning ingredients. A surfactant molecule comprises of 2 parts; a hydrophillic (water loving) head and a hydrophobic (oil loving but water hating) tail. When a sufficient number of these detergent molecules are placed in water, they come together to form what is known as a micelle.

Essentially, a micelle is a spherical structure with all the water loving head regions of the detergent molecules being in contact with the water around them, and the the oil loving tail regions on the inside where they don’t come in contact with the water.

Micelle structure in water (Image source: wikimedia commons)

These micelles are not visible to the naked eye, which is why a bottle of Bioderma looks like water and you don’t see globs floating around! Also, at this point if your freaking out at the term detergent/surfactant being used ..do not fear! The detergents used in micellar water are very gentle ones which do not irritate the skin ( its not the same type of detergent that is used in your dish washing liquid or bar soap!).

So how does this bottle of water with microscopic blobs work you ask?

Micellar waters are meant to be used with cotton pads. When you soak a cotton pad with micellar water, the cotton absorbs the water and the micelles which are no longer in water break up at the surface of the cotton pad. Since the cotton pad has absorbed the water, the detergent molecules get attached to the cotton pad with the water loving head region attached to the cotton and the water hating/oil loving tails pointed away from the cotton pad.

When you take this soaked cotton and wipe your face, the oil loving tails of the detergent molecules grab on to the oil, grease and makeup on the skin surface. Pretty simple right! As you may have guessed, if wearing heavy makeup you might have to go in for a second round since the tails might not be able to grab onto everything in the first round.

Hope you found this explanation helpful! Do let me know your questions in the comments!